The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-02-22
A BRAVE LADY.
How Her Royal Highness" Fought
for Her Life.


can realize the excitement caused 10y
witnessing a hand-tO-hand conflict be-
tween two savage, untamed beasts. !
have witnessed bull fights in Mexico,
and seen python crush the life out of
calf in South America, but never
gazed on Il more thrilling episode than
on one hot Algerian night at Il wafer
pool about two hundred miles in the in
terror Beside the pool were several
trees of fair size, in the punches of
one of which had been placed "a small
platform hidden among the clustered
leaves, from which hiding place ii WAS
convenient to shoot any animals that
might come To the pool To drink during
the night. Thither repaired one even
ing soon after shutdown, Maccovoy and
myself, accompanied by his Arab ser
want, a young man named ASilla. who
bore our spare guns and acted "a gem
eral factotum 10 us both Oh expeditions
of this nature. 1t * difficult for me, in
my cooler moments. To climb Il tree.
and the smooth, straight stem proved
extremely troublesome to swarm. How
ever, with the help of Mac and A>illa,
managed it and secured comfortable
perch. They followed with great IA.
cility. being both slight. active men,
and at once made the guns ready.
The moon rose gradually. and had a
good opportunity TO study perfect 81
lence. Nothing can be more deeply
silent than still night in the desert.
As there is little or no vegetation in
these vast oceans of sand, there i no
insect life. and for several hours after
the moon rose absolute silence reigned.
We did not speak. There was no
wind. 1t seemed as if there WAS
no living thing in that wide
spread eNpan>c of country.
was beginning to feel sleepy and nod
frequently, when a prolonged roar
sounded close at hand. In an instant
we were wide awake and @ra>ped our
guns nervouSly. At the next instant
the roar was answered from location
Immediately beneath u>. On looking
down we saw lione>>, living on her
belly, her head between her paws. and
her long tail waiving luNuli"u>ly ia and
fro. She looked like a huge cat enjoy
ing some pleasurablc sensation. Almost
instantly third ''woof! woof:'
sounded at our backs. ''Gad, Doe"
breathed Mac, eve are in for bag to-
night and moment later two mag
nificent males stepped slowly and ma
jeStically into view. The female con-
tinued to purr and wayc her tail gently.
As soon as the two lions spied each
other they prepared for action. Slowly
and carefully they meared each other.
the ioneSs meanwhile watching them
as a cat does mouse. Closer and
closer they drew. while we, spcllbOund.
reserved our fire to witness the terri
bic duel that WAS impending.
And now they crouch and with mu-
tual rOarS of rage spring at each other,
and, meeting. in midleap. fall, biting
and tearing. To the earth. We can
hear their bones crush between their
powerful jaws like e%g-ShelS beneath
mans boot-hceI. The lione>>. MAIN
tanning her tranquil attitude. watched
the conflict. a. it seemed TO my excited
ewes, with Il deviIiSh smile on her face
Over and over they rolled. while the
sickenin" sound of champing bones
filled the air. mingled with their fran
tic roaring and the movement of their
bodies a> they thra>hed through the
Il,
We're 50 wrought up that could stand
the terrific spectacle no longer.
and, takin" deliberate aim at
the lioncS>. behind her shoulder
blade, let fiy. Above the rumble of
the smooth-bore sounded the shrek of
the lioneSs as the heavy ball crashed
into her vitalS. The two duelistS at
once ceased their encounter. and as one
of them turned he received MaccovoyS
rifle bullet in the head. the missile
piercing the hollow over the eye, where
the skull is weak, and entering the
brain; death was almost instantaneous.
The other male with laundering
''wOofr' gave a mighty spring and
landed half way up the tree trunk,
nearly shaking us from our perch.
Asilla hastily discharged one of the
spare guns, slap-bang into his face. but
probably the charge only grazed him,
for falling back he disappeared into
the darkness toward where the means
and cries of the lioneSs grew fainter
and fainter every moment.
The moon being on the wane, after
Nil sounds had ceased We returned to
camp, with many promises to each
other to take up the spoor of our
wounded enemies in the morning and
<-aolr am IN THAR .desth According.